New York State Standards - note that teachers are expected to integrate these with the Common Core Standards by the 2013-14 school year. Beginning in January of 2014, Regents exams will assess skills identified in the Common Core Standards. See also links below for additional resources about the development of curricula and lessons incorporating CCSS on the EngageNY website and the NYS timeline for this implementation:

NYS P-12 Common Core Standards Link to NYS's developing Common Core Standards.

NYS Standards and Core Curriculum for all Subjects Click on link to access. Also see quick links below.

NYS Standards for the Arts Link to Learning Standards for the Arts.

NYS Standards for ELA Link to ELA Core Curriculum and Learning Standards.

NYS Standards for ESL Link to ESL standards for all grade levels.

NYS Standards for Math Link to Math Core Curriculum and Learning Standards.

NYS Standards for Science Link to Science Core Curriculum and Learning Standards.

NYS Standards for Social Studies Link to Social Studies Core Curriculum and Learning Standards.


Engage NY Common Core Resources As part of the New York State Network Team training Institute, the NY State Education Department has developed EngageNY, a website for Common Core implementation and other educator resources. A video series explaining the new standards, an overview of the necessary instructional shifts, and some curriculum exemplars are all available on the EngageNY website.

NYS Common Core Implementation Timeline Timeline for the full implementation / integration of the Common Core Standards.

PARCC ASSESSMENT CONSORTIUM:

PARCC The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) is a consortium of states working together to develop a common set of K-12 assessments in English and math anchored in what it takes to be ready for college and careers. These new K-12 assessments will build a pathway to college and career readiness by the end of high school, mark students’ progress toward this goal from 3rd grade up, and provide teachers with timely information to inform instruction and provide student support. The PARCC assessments will be ready for states to administer during the 2014-15 school year. New York is one of the states included in the PARCC consortium.



SMARTER BALANCED ASSESSMENT CONSORTIUM:

Smarter Balanced Consortium
Smarter Balanced is a state-led consortium developing assessments aligned to the Common Core State Standards in English language arts/literacy and mathematics that are designed to help prepare all students to graduate high school college- and career-ready. NYS is part of the PARCC Assessment Consortium, not the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium, but the Smarter Balanced and PARCC Consoritia are collaborating to develop a Technology Readiness Tool to support states as they transition to online assessments.


Common Core Standards - New York City:

NYC Common Core Standards New NYC DOE website with common core resources.

Common Core Standards - New York State:

New York State Common Core Standards Link to NYS site dedicated to the Common Core Standards.
Click on the PDF file below to bring up the Common Core Standards for New York State. Note also that this document is organized as a 3-column chart listing a progression of student skills for:
  • Grades 6-8
  • Grades 9-10
  • Grades 11-12



Regents Reform and NYS Common Core State Standards:

Memo sent May 12, 2011 regarding the way in which the implementation of the CCSS may change the NYS Regents exams.



Common Core Standards - National Initiative to Raise Student Achievement Levels:

Link to Common Core Standards Note that the first national Kindergarten-12 “Common Core State Standards” were finalized on June 2, 2010. They represent a collaborative effort by the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center). The actual writing of the standards was done by organizations working on behalf of 48 states, two territories, and the District of Columbia.
These English language arts and mathematics standards represent a set of expectations for student knowledge and skills that high school graduates need to master to succeed in college and careers.

To develop these standards, CCSSO and the NGA Center worked with representatives from participating states, a wide range of educators, content experts, researchers, national organizations, and community groups. These final standards reflect the invaluable feedback from the general public, teachers, parents, business leaders, states, and content area experts and are informed by the standards of other high performing nations (emphasis added).

College- and career-readiness standards have been incorporated into the K-12 standards. The criteria that we used to develop the college- and career-readiness standards, as well as these K-12 standards are that they should be:

  • Aligned with college and work expectations;
  • Include rigorous content and application of knowledge through high-order skills;
  • Build upon strengths and lessons of current state standards;
  • Informed by top-performing countries, so that all students are prepared to succeed in our global economy and society; and,
  • Evidence and/or research-based.

The standards development process has incorporated the best practices and research from across the nation and the world. While we have used all available research to shape these documents, we recognize that there is more to be learned about the most essential knowledge for student success. As new research is conducted and we evaluate the implementation of the common core standards, we plan to revise the standards on a set review cycle.

Note that the NYS embrace of the Common Core Standards reflects new federal initiatives to bring greater academic rigor to American K-12 education. The state governors and various foundations - including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation - have also been instrumentatl in promoting the idea of a new more rigorous national curriculum. The argument is that we need to raise academic standards and expectations to will make the US more competitive internationally. Current data suggest that education in the United States has been falling behind that of other advanced nations. Everyone seems to agree that the US needs to do better at preparing America's youth for 21st century career opportunities.

This is not a theoretical discussion. We have been told that state assessments in a few years (beginning in 2014) will be based on the new more rigorous standards developed by the states. Indeed there is a movement to create uniform national assessments that would replace state assessments (e.g. NYS Regents exams). While a few states - notably Texas and Alaska - have declined to participate, New York has decided to embrace this reform effort, prompted in part by a desire to qualify for "Race to the Top" federal grant money.


How does this affect us?

Our mandate is to align our course calendars with the NYC and NYS Common Core Curricula for Social Studies. We are being told that beginning in 2014 students will be taking state assessments that will be based on these new curricula. You will note that the curricula emphasize the teaching of higher-level thinking skills. It remains to be seen if the new assessments will more effectively test depth rather than breadth of understanding.
Accordingly, we all need to become familiar with the new NYC and NYS curricula so that we can align our teaching practices with the skills and goals identified in both the NYC and NYS Common Core Standards. Think about:
  • What essential questions do we already address in our curricula? What essential questions might further enrich our curricula?
  • What academic skills do we teach - and what skills do we need to put more emphasis on?
  • To what extent is the content identified in this document congruent with our calendars of lessons? What revisions do we need to make?